With Journey to the Center of the Earth and its sequel Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, the Journey film series was launched. With the addition of Dwayne Johnson in the second movie, both movies enjoyed phenomenal box office success, amassed hordes of fans, and appeared to be on course to continue to succeed by adhering to the tried-and-true franchise model.
A subsequent sequel was announced soon after the success of Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, and it was promised to be even bigger and better: The third journey is to the Moon. Unfortunately, this project was put on hold shortly after, and subsequently it was revealed that the movie had been cancelled. Here is what we know about the planned sequel and the reasons it was cancelled.
Script Difficulties and Actor Commitment Issues
The curse of a lack of script for furthering the project was one of the initial issues the Journey franchise faced. Johnson acknowledged in 2018 that a weak script was a major factor in his decision to stay out of the movie. The authors Chad and Carey W. Hayes were once thought to have some connection to the movie. Given their prior work on movies like The Conjuring and House of Wax, this may have been thrilling because it suggested that the script might evolve to be more adult or have horror themes that hadn’t been properly addressed previously. For unknown reasons, this creative direction was ultimately aband oned. Naturally, given these obstacles, performers were hesitant to commit to the project because it didn’t seem to be fully realised. But it would have been intriguing to see where the Hayes Brothers might have taken the picture.
Dwayne Johnson’s Popularity Surged
Dwayne Johnson originally became incredibly well-known as The Rock. He first made an appearance as a wrestler for WWE, where he competed for eight years and rose to fame as one of the most recognisable wrestlers to ever appear on the programme. This resulted in his continuing his acting career in movies starting with his role in The Scorpion King in 2002. With subsequent success, he was able to completely leave the WWE and devote himself to acting in Hollywood.
Johnson’s career was just starting to pick up steam when he entered the franchise in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. Johnson took on a number of significant films in the years after Journey 2, including Fast & Furious 6, Hercules, San Andreas, and Moana, to mention a few. His schedule was clearly getting busier and busier, and without a script for Journey 3, the prospect of a sequel was pushed to the bottom of his priority list. The absence of Johnson would have undoubtedly put a wrench in the preparations, despite director Peyton regularly maintaining in interviews that he had no plans for the franchise to cease. Johnson eventually revealed on Twitter that he wouldn’t be coming back, which posed the biggest obstacle for the movie since he was crucial to its success and popularity in general. The actor explained to his fans that the script and his busy work schedule were to blame for the cancellation.
There’s an Online Petition for the Project to be Resurrected
Fans were understandably upset when the movie was postponed, and their unhappiness was only increased when Johnson announced he will not be appearing in any more movies in 2018. We can see why fans were disappointed that Brad Peyton, the intended director of the movie, did not get the chance to helm such blockbuster hits as Rampage and San Andreas. Fans may express their ire over these kinds of things loudly today since they have access to the internet. This led to the creation of a petition, which you can find here, asking for Dwayne Johnson and Brad Peyton to once again be associated with the movie.
